Please help Scully - 39 eggs!

[JenFid]

Hi guys - I'm going to copy what I PM'd to Tracie, but I'd love your input too. My poor little girl just laid 39 eggs on Sunday, about a month after laying her very first clutch with 23. See below. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Hey Tracie,

I'm not sure if you remember, a few weeks ago I ordered some serrapeptase and calcium for my 1 year old girl who had just laid a clutch of eggs and ended up with a swollen back foot. I took her to the vet after the swelling didn't seem to be going down and he gave us some meds called Neo-Calglucon to give her for 3 weeks.

Well fast forward 3 weeks and her foot was finally doing better, but she started showing symptoms of having a clutch to lay again. Of course she did this less than a week before hubby and I left on our 6 day vacation.

My friend stopped by everyday to feed my crew and check on her. She ended up laying *39* eggs inside her tank on Sunday!

I am a little worried - since she was stuck in her tank she was digging against the substrate and wore a couple of her nails down to nubs. After laying her first clutch of 23 eggs she weighed 600g, and after this last one she now weighs 510g and is really skinny looking. I gave her a bath this morning and she drank a bunch of water. I still have some calglucon left so I gave her a dose of that and a dose of serrapeptase.

Here are my questions - since she lost so much weight, how much should I be feeding her on a daily basis? I gave her 2 fat hornworms this morning after her bath, and I have a few left which will be gone tomorrow. Should I give her feeders everyday, let her eat until she's full?

Should I continue giving her the calglucon daily? That will run out in a week or so, but I have some cherry flavored liquid calcium that I got from you, should I give her that daily once the calglucon runs out?

Keep giving the serrapeptase daily I assume?

Is there anything I can do for her nails? She didn't wear them down to the skin so I think they'll grow back.

Let me know what you think...I'll attach some pics. Her foot that was finally doing better is swollen again and she flinches it away if I touch it.

Worn down front nail:


Worn down back nail, this is on her bad foot:


The good foot (for comparison):


The bad foot:

 

[AHBD]

Hi Jen....Scully sounds like a champion egg layer ! It's a shocking amount of eggs, isn't it ? Actually, I have a girl that laid over 30 in every clutch one year, with the exact number of 39 being her highest amount. It's normal for her to weigh much less after a huge clutch, and you can feed her pretty much all she wants, but include greens along with her feeders. My girls' nails also wore down, that is pretty common and not a health threat at all. Keep up the extra calcium, but don't worry if you don't give an exact dose every day. If she has a good appetite she should be fine.

 

[JenFid]

Hi Jen....Scully sounds like a champion egg layer ! It's a shocking amount of eggs, isn't it ? Actually, I have a girl that laid over 30 in every clutch one year, with the exact number of 39 being her highest amount. It's normal for her to weigh much less after a huge clutch, and you can feed her pretty much all she wants, but include greens along with her feeders. My girls' nails also wore down, that is pretty common and not a health threat at all. Keep up the extra calcium, but don't worry if you don't give an exact dose every day. If she has a good appetite she should be fine.

Awesome, thanks AHBD! I went with my gut and fed her some more, about 8 big supers and some good sized dubia nymphs from my colony. I had to take the bowl away because she was trying to get them all in her mouth without chewing :lol: She munched a few mouthfuls of greens too, so she seems to be doing well in that department.

She can't walk very well but she was like that after her first clutch too. I will keep a close eye on her.

 

[AHBD]

You're welcome. I find that with the increased appetite from laying it's a great opportunity to get lots of greens in to the girls. They are usually ravenous, so I sometimes just start out with some fresh washed greens, or if the dragon is not too interested in greens right off the bat I offer a few of her fave bugs , then do a bait + switch and throw the greens down as she is madly munching on the bugs + in a bit of a feeding frenzy. It usually works . For some big females, feeding twice a day with smaller amounts keeps them more comfortable + athletic [ if that makes sense ] or I should say more mobile than always having a super-stuffed belly after the poor thing just laid a ton of eggs + been dragging all that bulk around. I hope Scully's foot continues to improve, I don't know if all the extra activity will have a negative affect on it, hopefully not !

 

[Dragonlady123]

One of my girls laid a clutch of 42 earlier this year and it was her first clutch. When she was done she looked like hell and had lost quite a bit of weight I would say about 100 grams but she picked back up quickly. I like to give my girls a pinkie mouse the day after they lay just to give them a nice dose of fat and protein and I give them a few silkworms cause I was told it is a natural pain reliever for them, and I can only assume after pushing out all those eggs their bodies would be a bit sore. Silkworms are also great for hydration

 

[JenFid]

One of my girls laid a clutch of 42 earlier this year and it was her first clutch. When she was done she looked like hell and had lost quite a bit of weight I would say about 100 grams but she picked back up quickly. I like to give my girls a pinkie mouse the day after they lay just to give them a nice dose of fat and protein and I give them a few silkworms cause I was told it is a natural pain reliever for them, and I can only assume after pushing out all those eggs their bodies would be a bit sore. Silkworms are also great for hydration

Yea, serrapeptase is the enzyme(?) from silkworms that helps with the pain and inflammation so I have a bottle of that, which I've been giving her every day since her *last* clutch :roll:

42, wow that's impressive. I know I felt so bad for my girl, so dilapidated looking. She's perked up since I've let her shovel food in her face today. I've got a few horns left and ordered more that should get here by Friday, so hopefully she'll be all set